We are
delighted to announce that White 1 took off this afternoon at 1400
local on a 35 minute test flight with pilot Wolf Czaia at the controls.

The
flight was conducted "wheels down" at 2000 feet with a L-39 chase plane in
trail. By all accounts, the flight was a complete success.
Czaia rated the jet's handling qualities as "excellent."

A crowd
of some 50 people had gathered to witness the event, and as such, were
treated to the first sighting of a Me 262 aloft in more than five decades.

Please
see the regular UPDATES page for
the latest information on the flight test program!

18 DEC 02

LOCAL
NEWS COVERAGE The Seattle
Post-Intelligencer has been following our progress closely, and reports
that all we are waiting for now is "good weather." Take a look!

10 DEC 02

FIRST FLIGHT DRAWS CLOSER We are now in the final stages of
preparing for an "official" first flight, and expect White 1 to
take to the skies just prior to the Christmas holiday. Please check
back soon.

04 DEC 02

AVIATION WEEK UPDATE James C. Goodall has written a short project
update for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine in anticipation of
the upcoming flight test program. You may review the contents of
this article
HERE.

25 NOV 02

LIFTOFF!
We are pleased to report that a rather quiet
and unofficial milestone was reached today when White 1 took to
the skies for a brief period during a high speed taxi test. The aircraft
reached an altitude of 5 feet Above Ground Level, and was an important
first step in our upcoming test flight program.

18 OCT 02

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS In keeping with our usual practice of
accommodating
dignitaries and visitors, we recently were pleased to host two ladies
with very special connections to the Messerschmitt 262 and/or the Me 262
Project:

Isolde
Baur, widow of prominent Messerschmitt test pilot Karl Baur, made
the trip from Texas along with her daughter. Wolf Czaia conducted an informal
tour with this special family, and Isolde seemed especially pleased to
see the progress that has been made on one of her "favorite airplanes."

Barbara
Snyder Forer, widow of our own Me 262 Project founder Steve Snyder,
also paid us a visit along with her husband John Forer. With the realization
of Steve's original vision drawing ever closer, Barbara also came away
impressed with all that has been accomplished.

01 OCT 02

MICROSOFT CORPORATION has taken a very strong interest in the Me 262
Project in conjunction with its upcoming release of the Combat Flight
Simulator 3 software. As we noted back in July, the CFS crew
even paid us a visit to make sound recordings which are to be used in
the actual program. A number of relevant features -- to include two excellent
video clips -- have been posted to their CFS
Insider web site in recent weeks, and we would certainly recommend
a visit to anyone not familiar with this site!

27
SEP 02

AIRPLANE
UPDATES Both low and high speed taxi tests have now been completed
on the White 1 airplane with very encouraging initial results.

Power-on
milestones have also been achieved, and we are now in the process of "tweaking"
the flight test instrument panel.

We have
also been addressing weight and balance issues and have added significant
weight to the nose section (nearly 400 lbs.) to compensate for the lack
of the usual armament and munitions.

22
SEP 02

MEDIA
ROLLUP Several international magazines have featured the Me 262 Project
in articles and/or updates, to include ...

Classic Wings
(Australia) Volume 9, No. 4 2002 issue 37 has a picture of White 1,
taken by our own Nick Cirelli under the headline "Significant First
Flights Looming."

Koku-fan (Japan)
No. 595 July 2002 has pictures from the factory, as well as interview
transcripts in Japanese.

Flugzeug Classic
(Germany) September 2002 has pictures our our recent taxi tests, and
still more German-language interviews -- again with Wolf Czaia. Significant
coverage can be found under the headline "Rolltests in Seattle."

16 SEP 02

TEST PILOT
Wolfgang Czaia has been busy with taxi testing, and increasingly, with
the German media as well. While the project has always been of special
interest to German enthusiasts, this seems to have greatly increased in
recent weeks.

16 AUG 02

WARBIRD
INDEX is preparing to publish the first-ever comprehensive international
registry of historic warbird aircraft, and recently featured the Me 262
Project (as well as Stormbirds stablemate Fw
190) in their Latest
News section online.

08 AUG 02

PROGRESS!
As we near the flight test stage, the importance and frequency of taxi
testing has increased. We recently completed our third successful iteration,
with plane and pilot travelling some 5000 feet down the runway.

23 JUL 02

MICROSOFT
is planning to release an updated version of their flight simulator software
in the fall of 2002, and recently sent a team to Paine Field to make several
audio recordings of White 1 during power-on checks. These sound
files will be used in the newest version of Combat Flight Simulator
3: Battle For Europe, due in stores by late November.

26 JUN 02

MILESTONE
It is with great enthusiasm that we report passing a major benchmark in
our test program. Yesterday, White 1successfully completed
it's initial power-on taxi test, marking the first time in some 55
years that an Me 262 has moved under it's own power. The
taxi event coincided with an ongoing (previously scheduled) client meeting,
and was also attended by Jagdverband 44 veteran Oberleutnant Franz
Stigler, who had travelled from Canada to review our progress. There
was certainly no shortage of smiles here on Paine Field on Tuesday afternoon!

Video
footage of this event (in .mpeg format) will follow shortly.

TEST
PILOT INTERVIEW As promised, here is a LINK*
to the March 16th South Whidbey Record interview with our test
pilot, Wolfgang Czaia.

* Note:
This file was recently moved. Follow the link to the South Whidbey
Record web site, and enter "Czaia" in the Story Archives
Keyword Search box to locate the document.

25 JUN 02

STILL
MORE MEDIA COVERAGE When you're on a roll, you're on a roll: you can
check out the latest coverage of the project in the July 1st issue of
Fortune magazine on page 191 (At Last: Bird of Prey).
Also, for our friends in Germany, the July/August issue of Flugzeug
Classic contains an extensive feature on the Messerschmitt 262,
commemorating the 60th anniversary of the aircraft's first flight. Special
Me 262 Project coverage begins on page 46, and runs through page
50 -- including an interview with test pilot Wolfgang Czaia. Horrido!

24 JUN 02

FIRST FLIGHT??
No, we haven't actually sent White 1 aloft just yet, but while
cleaning up the server recently, we did run across a very short conceptual
animation (.avi) done last year by Sabre
Design Group's own Jamie Iverson ... take
a look!

MORE WALLPAPER!
Here are two more wallpaper images for you to choose from, also showing
White 1 on the ramp in early summer 2002.

WALLPAPER
PHOTO In response to your requests for larger photographs, suitable
for use as desktop wallpaper, we've added our first "rollout"
shot of White 1. This image (below) was taken in conjunction with
the recent Fortune magazine shoot, and shows the airplane essentially
complete, lacking only the landing gear doors. Simply select your desktop
resolution to download a correctly size background.

UPDATES
We've been innundated over the past several weeks from visitors asking
about site updates. Visually, much of our recent progress has been difficult
to measure (i.e. one cockpit wiring bundle looks pretty much like every
other one), but we have just added several new
pages to the photo gallery, showing
the work being done in early June.

FORTUNE
MAGAZINEhas
published a short feature on the project to their web site HERE.

12 JUN 02

SECOND WING
PROGRESSES We
are anticipating having the Red Nose wing out of the wing jig and in the
laydown position shortly. We will start loading our next wing later this
summer.

IMPORTANT
INFORMATION REGARDING
FIRST FLIGHT(S)We've
been fielding a lot of questions regarding the upcoming test flight program.
There has been considerable pressure for us to announce dates, issue visitor
passes, and arrange media coverage of the first flight of White 1.
While we certainly understand and appreciate all of this interest, none
of these actions fall into line with our current plans. We expect that
our first flight(s) will actually be private, unannounced, and of very
short duration. Given that the primary objective of the test flight program
is to evaluate the aircraft, it is important for us to minimize these
outside distractions as much as possible. After we are able to sort through
the initial results, and post a few measurable successes, we will make
a further determination as to how formal and public our "official"
first flight will be.

Media interest is
growing with both Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine
keeping track of our progress. Watch for a brief feature in Fortune
later this month!

04 JUN 02

COCKPITS TAKING
SHAPE At
the moment, our crews are engaged primarily in cockpit finish work. Instrument
panel fitting and related electrical work (testing and sorting through
the wiring) has been progressing slowly, but steadily.

MORE PHOTOS COMING
We expect to have our first completed cockpit photos posted to the site
within the next several weeks, with preliminary taxi footage to follow
shortly thereafter.

01 MAY 02

TEST PILOT
INTERVIEWED Our test
pilot, Wolfgang Czaia, was recently the subject of a short biographical
article in a local paper, the South Whidbey Record. We'll be further
information on this article during the next major update in late June.

04 APR 02

LOCAL NEWS
COVERAGE The project
was recently the subject of a well-written article in the business section
of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper. You can review the
contents of this article HERE.

22 MAR 02

GROUND TESTS
CONTINUE We've not
had a great deal of news to report over the past few weeks, as engine
tests and final assembly have continued largely as expected. What we do
have for you this month, however, is a
selection of short MPEG clips taken during a recent engine test run. At
long last, you can not only see the work in progress, but you can hear
a bit of it as well -- enjoy!!

ENGINE TESTS
NOW UNDERWAY We
have yet to work up a comprehensive photo essay, but here are a pair of
photos taken only days ago of our first successful engine test run. More
to come!

The above images are thumbnailed. Click
for an enlarged view.

22 JAN 02

AVIATION
WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY
magazine recently featured the project with a short update piece in the
January 14th, 2002 "Source" issue (page 430). You may read a
transcript of the entire article below, or click on the image to download
a larger format scan.

Me
262 Jet Nears Testing

Final
assembly and painting have been completed on the first of five
reproduction Messerschmitt Me262 jet fighters in preparation for
installation of two General Electric J85 turbo jet engines (without
afterburners).The
airplanes are being completed by the Me262 Project, based at Paine
Field, Wash. The
program is led by former Boeing vice president Bob Hammer.

The
twin-engine jets will be tested and certified in the FAA's Experimental
Category by Wolfgang Czaia, a retired American Airlines captain.
He said plans call for initial taxi tests and first flight of
a two-seat version this spring. One of the two-seat jets has been
sold to the Messerschmitt Foundation based near Munich.

That
airplane will be powered by CJ610 turbojet engines, which are
the commercial equivalent of the U.S. military J85 power-plants.
In addition, the Foundation is assigning consecutive Messerschmitt
Me262 production serial numbers to each airframe because of their
authenticity.

The
first two-seat fighter will undergo a 40-hr. flight test program
with particular attention paid to determination of minimum single-engine
control speed, overall handling characteristics and critical Mach
number (Mach 0.83 - 0.86). Czaia said the airplanes are priced
at about $2 million each, not including engines and custom avionic
installations. Fabrication of the fighters began early in the
1990s at the Texas Airplane Factory in Fort Worth, under the direction
of Herb Tischler, before they were relocated to Paine Field.

As expected, we are presently installing the engines in
preparation for end-of month operational tests.